“Dark Tourism”: American experience of visiting Chechnya and South Ossetia

22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier became infamous around the world after he was convicted in North Korea of ​​“secretly working for the American government and attempting to undermine the basis of North Korean unity.” All these charges were brought against the guy for tearing down a propaganda poster in a hotel in Pyongyang. For this he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. More than a year after his imprisonment, lawyers managed to return Warmbier to the United States, but his condition was so dire that doctors were unable to save him - several days after returning to his homeland the young man died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

The city of Grozny at night. Photo: Depositphotos

It all started as an adventure: Otto went to North Korea as part of a five-day package from a Chinese travel company Young Pioneer Tours, He made several photos in the most closed country in the world, but it was not unjustifiable for a student to brag about them in the United States due to an inadvertently torn poster.

The student’s death was exacerbated by the conflict between the United States and the DPRK, and the travel company Young pioneer tours corrected the information on her website, adding that trips to North Korea are safe only if the laws of the country are observed, the site used to state that such a tour is simply very safe without any additional conditions.

Looking at the guy’s suffering during the trial and upon his return to the United States, many wondered: why did he need this, why did he even go to the DPRK? But he is far from the only traveler interested in “dark tourism,” when adventurers are sent to politically tense regions, such as where there is a war, or to other “exotic” places where conventional travel agencies do not take. In recent years, the American market for such services has been experiencing a real boom - from 2008 to 2012 it grew by 65% ​​annually, reaching $263 billion in 2012 (newer information on the state of this market is not currently publicly available).

Most of this growth comes from more stereotypical adventurous activities, such as rafting or bungee jumping. But there are quite a few people in this indicator who wish to visit unsafe places. The reason for the growing popularity of this type of tourism is the fact that there are more and more travelers in the world and countries that are popular in this regard are trying to accommodate tourists, create comfort for them, leveling the country's authenticity, something that tourists are most interested in. And so people, getting the same experience from visiting different countries, begin to think about traveling somewhere, where they are not adjusted to where they can see real life.

For example, Young pioneer tours (YPT) promises to provide "safe, cheap travel to every place on the planet your mom would want you to stay away from," the company has a perfect 5.0 rating on TripAdvisor.

Journalist Huffington Post I decided to try this trip on myself and talked about the experience.

He signed up for a YPT tour in the Caucasus. It was a two-week trip worth $ 2540 dollars, it was part of a larger summer Soviet tourist package that started at Chernobyl with a short stop in Moscow (where the other tourists should have joined the journalist) and included a visit to the Chechen Republic and unrecognized South Ossetia.

In total, 8 days after the death of Otto, YPT’s guide, Shane, advised the client to apply for a Russian visa on their own and use fake hotel booking information. He also advised to provide the Russian embassy with a fake route plan, which would say that the journalist was supposedly going to go on a bus tour of Estonia. While talking about the trip, the travel agent never mentioned the State Department’s warning “not to go to Chechnya or South Ossetia under any circumstances,” as this may not be safe for US citizens.

Before Otto's death, travel to North Korea accounted for 70 to 80% of YPT's business. This has been the case since 2006, when the opportunity arose to transport people to the DPRK. Now YPT is the second player in the North Korean tourism market after Koryo Tours, which is considered to be more secure, so the company started creating new routes, one of which was the Caucasian territory of the post-Soviet countries.

Arriving in Moscow, the journalist met with guide Shane and other tourists with whom he was supposed to continue on his way. Most of them were regular customers of YPT, who have already visited the DPRK and Cuba.

Despite the fact that Shane already took 3 tours in Russia, he did not speak Russian, Ukrainian Inna helped him in his work, which, in fact, did everything: communicated with local guides, bought tickets for the group, helped them in restaurants, while Shane just behaved like the main one on the journey.

After spending the day in Moscow, the tourists went by train to Vladikavkaz, from where they were supposed to take a minibus to Chechnya.

During the two Chechen wars with Russia that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, between 70 and 000 Chechen civilians (out of a population of approximately 200) died. The survivors are quite brutal and hardened people. Their national symbol is the wolf; in Russia itself they are associated with hostage-taking in schools and theaters, explosions in buses and subways. The journalist's American friends, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned him that the worst Mujahideen they encountered were the Chechens. Therefore, he went on this trip rather warily.

On the way, the band members mostly boasted what unusual territories they managed to visit as part of their travels: among the favorites were Nagorno-Karabakh and Antarctica.

In addition, they drank a lot. The situation worsened when at one of the stations a man sat down to them, introducing himself as “gangster Seryozha”, who treated everyone with cheap brandy and told about his thefts and prison.

After arriving in Vladikavkaz, the travelers took a minibus to go to Chechnya, accompanied by a local guide named Mohammed.

After the 90 minute trip through North Ossetia and Ingushetia, travelers reached Grozny, where the military checked their documents.

“At first glance, Grozny seemed impermanent, like a temporary colony on a rocky desert planet. Young trees, characterless residential complexes located at a distance from each other,” the journalist noted.

The guide told them that after the wars, 99% of the city had been rebuilt, and also said that there was Putin Avenue in Grozny, which is not in Moscow or Petersburg.

All because modern Grozny would not exist without Putin's money. Shortly after Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov was assassinated in 2004, his son Ramzan, who established himself as one of Putin’s most reliable supporters, gained power. However, Ramzan’s loyalty is expensive. From 2008 to 2012, Moscow allocated 120 billions to Chechnya for the year. Federal subsidies accounted for 81% of the republican budget in 2015 year.

Tourists visited the Kadyrov Museum in Grozny and several other cities in the republic, visiting the mountains and dilapidated ancient towers, and even visited a Chechen wedding, where there was no alcohol at all, but there was a lot of music and dance.

While they were traveling in the republic, Inna was able to contact Ramzan Kadyrov in Instagram (he accepted her friend request), and insisted that the tour group would like to meet the head of Chechnya. To begin with, he sent one of his close associates, the head of the presidential secretariat, to find out what impressions his republic left on tourists, but he never pleased them with his company.

The American journalist was surprised that the group drank a lot and constantly, but then he realized that this is a kind of policy of the travel company - this is how people get closer faster and become less critical of the conditions of recreation and service.

The journalist noticed that there were very few ballot boxes in Grozny and was quiet, since at the weekend the central streets were closed to cars.

Once a journalist even thought that he was planned to be arrested. The police fled in his direction, and he even raised his hands. But they ran past and pounced on the black guy.

After Chechnya, the group went to Dagestan, where they spent some time on the beach.

This was followed by the path to South Ossetia, but until recently the guide did not know if the group would be allowed to enter the unrecognized state, so he repeated: “Remember, we had a great trip, even without South Ossetia”.

Tourists were instructed on how to behave during an interview with the FSB at the border, those who were involved in journalism or the civil service were advised not to mention it.

After successfully passing the interview, tourists were given the choice of whether they wanted their passport to have a stamp about visiting South Ossetia or not.

On the territory of the unrecognized state, the group was met by two guides, Eka and Georgie, who took tourists to the country past heavy guns aimed at Georgia.

South Ossetia looked like a place where life had suddenly disappeared with the ruined remains of traces of past success and civilization.

“We couldn’t explore any of the attractions on our own. Our presence here and what we saw depended on what the South Ossetian government wanted us to see, and nothing more. For example: Not far from the road we were traveling on, Russian military forces were in the process of “border demarcation” along the administrative border with Georgia. A few weeks before our arrival, these soldiers raised border markers and moved them 2 feet into Georgia, thus capturing part of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, but they absolutely did not want to show us this,” the journalist noted.

Guides talked about the war with Georgia, exposing Tbilisi as an aggressor and a murderer. In the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinval, there were a lot of destroyed houses, but there were also new buildings, mainly government offices.

The guests managed to spend the day in a real mountain house with their family, although the second such overnight stay had to be canceled, since one of the owners of the house fell from a tree and was injured.

“We took photos in front of buildings with shell holes, and I tried to remember that “dark tourism” is much older than the selfie tripod. Mark Twain visited Pompeii and then wrote about it. Anton Chekhov was the world's first "GULAG tourist". The first excursion in England was a day trip on a locomotive to see the execution of two criminals. The very idea of ​​tourism in the West arose in connection with the desire of pilgrims to see the empty tomb of a peasant executed by the state,” the journalist summed up his experience.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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